1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image quality adjustment method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a maintenance personnel (also referred to as a customer engineer or a service person) replaces replaceable components among a plurality of components of an image forming apparatus which forms images with the plurality of components. However, there is a case, with respect to the components which can be relatively easily and safely replaced, a user who uses the image forming apparatus performs a component replacement operation. Such a mechanism which allows a user to perform the component replacement operation (ORU-M: Operator Replaceable Unit-Management) has been common to be adopted. By adopting ORU-M, a user can replace some components of an image forming apparatus, and hence downtime and repair costs of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-42691 discloses a technology by which a toner image for image quality determination is formed, a unit to be replaced is specified based on the result of pattern analysis of the toner image, and information to replace the unit or to unlock the unit is notified, when a user recognizes abnormality in an output image or an image forming apparatus, or feels necessity of maintenance of the image forming apparatus, and presses an abnormality notification button.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-182083 discloses a technology by which a maintenance-target unit to be replaced or repaired is specified by referring to an error code, related units which need to be removed to replace or repair the maintenance-target unit are specified and displayed, and information on a replacement operation or a repair operation is notified in accordance with the maintenance contents for the maintenance-target unit indicating replacement or repair.
When unit replacement is performed by adopting ORU-M, various adjustments need to be made so that the replaced unit fits the current state of the image forming apparatus.
However, there are some adjustment items for replaced components, the adjustment items each of which has a plurality of sections/methods to make the adjustment. In such a case, it is necessary for a user to select one of the sections/methods to use. For example, when the adjustment item is image quality adjustment based on a read test image, and there is a plurality of reading sections/methods to read the test image, it is difficult and complicated for a user who does not have technical knowledge to judge which reading section/method is most suitable to use.